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 HP-UX IP Address and Client Management Administrator’s Guide: HP-UX 11i v2, HP-UX 11i v3 > Chapter 2 Configuring and Administering the BIND Name Service

Choosing Name Servers for Your Domain
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You can configure your host as any of the following types of BIND name servers:

  • Master Server

    A master server is the authority for its domain and contains data corresponding to its domain. The master server obtains its information from a master file on the disk. On previous versions of BIND, the master server was referred to as a primary server.

  • Slave Server

    A slave server is also the authority for its domain and contains the domain’s data, but it receives data over a network from another master server. On previous versions of BIND, the slave server was referred to as a secondary server.

  • Caching-Only Server

    A caching-only server is not authoritative for any domain. The only function that a caching-only server performs is to look up data from an authoritative server and store the data in its cache.

  • Forwarding Server

    A forwarding server always forwards queries that it cannot satisfy from its authoritative data or cache to a fixed list of other servers. A forwarding server is typically used when you do not want all the servers at a given site to interact with the rest of the Internet servers. An added benefit of using the forwarding feature is that the forwarding server develops a complete cache of information that all the workstations can use.

If you do not want to run a name server on your host, you can configure the resolver to query a name server on another host. By default, the resolver is configured to query the name server on the local host.

NOTE: Throughout this document, the terms zone and domain are used interchangeably, though they describe different concepts. A zone describes the domain name space that a name server has authority over. As such, a zone does not contain any delegated subdomains, whereas a domain can contain data delegated to other name servers. Therefore, as long as subdomains are not delegated, a zone and a domain contain the same data.

Choosing the Type of Name Server

You can use any server configuration on a host. Following are some suggestions for the configuration:

  • You must configure timeshare machines or cluster servers as master or slave servers.

  • If you want the benefits of a name server but do not want to maintain authoritative data, you can set up a caching-only server. Running a caching-only server provides you better performance than querying a name server on a remote system, especially if the remote system is on the other side of a gateway or router.

  • You must configure PCs, workstations that do not want to maintain a server, and other small networked systems to query a name server on another host. Cluster nodes must query the name server on the cluster server.

  • If your network is isolated from the Internet, and your host is the only BIND name server in your organization, you must configure a root name server. See “Configuring a Root Name Server” for information.

Choosing Master Servers and Slave Servers

Follow these guidelines while selecting a master server and slave server:

  • You must have at least two master servers per domain: a primary master and one or more slaves for redundancy. You can configure one host as a master for multiple domains (primary for some domains and secondary for other domains).

  • You must choose hosts that are as independent as possible for redundancy. For example, choose hosts that use different power sources or cables.

  • You must choose hosts that have the most reliable Internet connectivity with the best gateway connections.

  • Name servers for a particular zone need not physically reside within the same domain. In general, zones are more accessible to the rest of the Internet if their name servers are widely distributed, instead of on the premises of the organization that manages the domain.

Types of Resource Records

Resource records (RRs) are entries in the data files in a name server. Typically, a resource record is of the following format:

name           ttl            class           type             data

Where:

name

Specifies the domain name where the RRs are found

ttl

Specifies the time after which a resource record becomes inactive

class

Specifies an encoded 16-bit value that identifies a protocol family or an instance of a protocol

type

Specifies an encoded 16-bit value that specifies the resource record type

data

Specifies the resource data. The format of the data is specific to the type and class of the resource record.

Following is a sample resource record:

.          3600000         IN            NS            A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.

Table 2-1 lists the different types of resource records in BIND.

Table 2-1 BIND Resource Records

NameDescription

Global Position (GPOS)

Specifies the global position. The GPOS record must be superseded by the LOC record.

Location Information (LOC)

Specifies the geographic location of the service. LOC enables DNS to carry location information about hosts, networks, and subnets. The LOC record supersedes the GPOS record.

Naming Authority Pointer (NAPTR)

Provides rules for mapping certain parts of uniform resource identifiers (URIs) to domain names. By changing the mapping rules, the host that is contacted to resolve a URI can be changed.

Network Service Access Point (NSAP)

Maps a domain name to an OSI network service access point address as described in RFC 1706 (The Naming Authority Pointer (NAPTR) DNS Resource Record). NSAP to name translation is accomplished using the PTR RR as described in RFC 1035 (Domain Names - Implementation and Specification). The PTR RR can be used with any NSAP address format.

Mail Mapping Information (PX)

Maps between RFC 822 (Standard for the format of ARPA Internet text) and X.400 addresses.

Responsible Person (RP)

Specifies the responsible person for a domain.

Well Known Service (WKS)

Describes the well known services supported by a particular protocol on a particular Internet address. This record must be superseded by the service record.

Key Exchanger (KX)

Provides a method to delegate authorization for one node, to provide key exchange services on behalf of one or more nodes.

Address (A)

Map host names to IP addresses

Canonical Name (CNAME)

Specifies an alias for official name of the host, also called the canonical name

Mail Exchanger (MX)

Specifies a weighted list of hosts that Sendmail tries while sending a mail to a destination

Name Server (NS)

Specifies the name servers authoritative for a given domain

Pointer (PTR)

Maps the IP addresses back to host names

Service (SRV)

Defines the hosts that support the defined services

Signature (SIG)

Stores the private key of a key pair in the form of a digital signature on an RRset

Start of Authority (SOA)

Designates the start of a domain and specifies that the server is authoritative for the data in the domain

Next (NXT)

Provide a negative response to a domain name search by indicating that the next domain name in lexicographical order is the one specified in this particular RR

Key (KEY)

Stores different kinds of cryptographic keys

Domain Name (DNAME)

Provides the capability to map an entire subtree of the DNS name space to another domain

“Quad A” record (AAAA)

Stores the 128-bit IPv6 addresses with an IPv6 reverse mapping domain, ip6.int

 



Configuring the Name Service Switch
  		 


Configuring a Master Name Server  
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